# What was that one game Dopers found that had the computer guessing who they were? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 25, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627 "2011-04-25T06:53:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/101 "2011-04-27T19:50:08Z")
Got J from MIB in 20 (I’m surprised it took that long). Zombie Lincoln stumped it, as did Christy-Palliére (from Aubrey-Maturin), but it got Hermes (a talking motorcycle from Kino’s Journey) on the second guess (23 or 24 questions, don’t remember). I love that it tells you how many other people played the same character (147 for Hermes!). ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/102 "2011-04-27T19:58:51Z")
20 questions to get Alan Turing. Weird thing is how quick it goes from generic to specific questions. For Turing it went from “Is you character a singer” at the 11th question to getting Turing at the 20th, although the 18th question was “Does your character owe his fame to computing?”. It’d be interesting to see the results page list the number of possible guesses the program was considering at each stage. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/103 "2011-04-27T20:05:05Z")
Oh, and it got the three random Charger players I threw at it, though it took a few tries to get Nate Kaeding. After establishing that he was a white American football kicker who lives in California, wears blue, has never left a team, is not a rookie, has a common first name, and has never won a world championship, it was still confused until the final question: “Is your character a bear?”. The discovery that he was not, in fact, of ursine origin was enough to seal it beyond a doubt. I dunno, maybe AJ Smith has been making weird draft picks again. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/104 "2011-04-28T00:15:28Z")
It failed totally on french actress [Valerie Quennessen](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0703211/) ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/105 "2011-04-28T02:30:17Z")
Holy crap on a cracker. Valentine Wiggin. That’s the best I could think up, and it got it. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/106 "2011-04-28T02:35:09Z")
Success on Schrodinger’s cat, the man in the moon, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. No luck on Carcer Dun, Orion, Castor and/or Pollux, Donovan “Red” Grant, or Gay Hitler. I added a member of Hitler’s inner circle (real Hitler, not Gay Hitler). ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/107 "2011-04-28T02:41:39Z")
He got to Wooldoor Sockbat after a detour through Roy from the Simpsons ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/108 "2011-04-28T02:47:20Z")
Took it a while to get to Hoops and Yoyo. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/109 "2011-04-28T03:04:32Z")
Holy crap. He guessed Lady Eboshi (from _Mononoke Hime_) on the first try. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/110 "2011-04-28T03:29:19Z")
I stumped it with folk singer Si Kahn. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/111 "2011-04-28T03:36:20Z")
It didn’t recognize R.A. Lafferty either. ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/112 "2011-04-28T03:50:18Z")
It’s interesting to try it with a character you only barely remember. I couldn’t remember the name or many of the characteristics of the protagonist from Final Fantasy 9. And it still managed to guess him after only 20 questions. Even with answering ‘I don’t know’ on several questions and answering differently than it expected for several others. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/113 "2011-04-28T03:50:57Z")
An addictive game! It didn’t know Marianne O’Hara, the heroine of Joe Haldeman’s _Worlds_ and _Worlds Apart_, nor did it know Tom Orley from David Brin’s _Startide Rising_. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/114 "2011-04-28T04:01:54Z")
It had children’s author Julia Donaldson in its database, but didn’t guess her after 40 questions. Maybe next time I should try the Gruffalo! ETA: It got the Gruffalo after only 30 tries. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/115 "2011-04-28T10:09:50Z")
It didn’t get Gunga Din first time, but did the second time. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/116 "2011-04-28T14:22:40Z")
Stumped it with 19th century financier Joseph Seligman (though eventually it _did_ guess J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie, so it was on the right track). It also guessed incorrectly when I picked Amy March, from _Little Women_ – chose Meg first, which is fair enough. After a few more questions about whether I had an _older_ sister, it figured out I meant Amy. OTOH, my choice of GLaDOS (from the _Portal_ games) was easily sussed in just 14 questions. 🙂 And apparently a very popular pick, too. ---
**Author:** ![KellyCriterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@KellyCriterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyCriterion)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/117 "2011-04-28T14:29:12Z")
That is incredible. Got **Richard Dawkins** on my first go at it. Even showed me his frickin’ picture. Time to choose more and more obscure “well known people” until it flubs. ---
**Author:** ![KellyCriterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@KellyCriterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyCriterion)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/118 "2011-04-28T14:35:13Z")
I thought to myself… _ha ha ha… I’ll choose **me**!!_ :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/119 "2011-04-28T15:59:39Z")
Wow, it got [Eario](http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/characters/reario/) in 20. I guess BitF is more popular than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/120 "2011-04-28T16:50:16Z")
20 questions for Jim Thome. That was incredible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627.md?page=7)